Hi there! I am budding a botanist, ecologist, and sustainability researcher, PhD Candidate.
Saturday, March 13, 2021:
Hi everyone: Have any bottles you want to make sure are recycled? Want to donate your empties to a quirky cause on a near future Saturday? Want to advocate for botany research (Plants and other things in botany are so cool! And the planet needs more plant scientists!)? Did you know that many bottles are not even recycled? If you want to help, or know anyone who does, “Bottle Recycling for Botany Research” (BR2) 2021 is meant to make people smile (quirkiness is a prerequisite to studying plants!), raise funds, get people thinking about the recycling life cycle as well as our very important leafy friends that make us oxygen!
—————— If this interests you, please read below this line to help out! Please feel free to forward to others, happy Saturday! ———————————
—— I am very willing to take any recyclables to the depot to help fund plant microbiome given climate change research, and address the multiple aims of BR2 2021 on Saturdays:
- Aim 1. Specifically raise botany research funds for my PhD research on the phytobiome (essentially the plant as its own ecosystem!) given climate change
- Aim 2. Advocate for the need for accessible and equitable research funds for staff, students, community partners in botany, general plant sciences, and STEM (Science, Technology Engineering, and Mathematics) in general! Some people suggested I talk to NSERC, so maybe I will get there if BR2 drive gets big!
- Aim 3. Increase awareness that not all recyclables make it to the recycling
- Aim 4. Promote that plants are really cool to overcome general lack of knowledge or awareness of plants
- Aim 5. Recycle bottles, cans, etc. by taking it to the depot in a solo, introvert, physically distanced fashion, and I have tongs, gloves, etc.
——- The BR2 journey is exciting! I have been doing community recycling – especially at musical festivals to help keep things clean for music goers – for years, and have done many clean ups, ivy pulls, etc., so know how to get my hands dirty (pun intended!) If you want a receipt, etc. (we live in a proof is in the pudding age), just let me know! Nothing should be free, so I will donate my time every Saturday starting today (already started and have bins full of empties from my housing complex!) to make sure things are win-win! I live in a housing complex, so there are bottles there, but if you have any you want to donate to the cause please let me know.
——- And by all means, please let me know if you are not interested, as being kind to your inbox means just as much to me. Be kind to yourselves, and I will look into a UBC Blogs website for this, so it moves to a blog format instead ;)! People are offering to help already, which is fabulous, and one even suggested I get a recycling suit…maybe that will fit in the budget later! My research is not on fluffy things like panda bears, but I have somewhat fluffy hair (so I hope that helps…).